Kotak Mahindra Bank clarifies on report of PMO directives to take action against MD and CEO Uday Kotak

Kotak Mahindra Bank on Tuesday refuted reports that the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has directed Finance Ministry to take action against its MD and CEO Uday Kotak.

 "We would like to clarify that it's a routine process for the PMO to direct a grievance on banking and financial matters to the Finance Ministry with a remark - "to look into the matter and take appropriate action"," said Rohit Rao, Chief Communication Officer, Kotak Mahindra Group.

The clarification came after couple of web-based media claimed that the PMO has asked Finance Ministry to take action against Kotak Mahindra Bank's MD and CEO Uday Kotak on complaints of conspiracy and fraud filed by Mumbai-based businessman Santosh Kumar Bagla.

 The company alleged that certain media houses have completely distorted the PMO's communication to the Finance Ministry. "Certain persons have further distorted a simple communication from the PMO by making damaging statements, which are completely untrue," it said.

According to the company, this issue is about a ten-year old loan recovery case where the borrower - Cogent Ventures India Limited and members of Bagla family as guarantors had defaulted on their loan repayment and to recover dues the bank had initiated recovery proceedings. Subsequently, the borrower entered into an out-of-court settlement and repaid the bank's dues.

"Our bank always acts in accordance with the prevailing law and regulations. We shall be dealing with the matter appropriately", said Rao.

Edited by Chitranjan Kumar

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